2 for 20%.
::shoves way to the front of the chopping line::
I bet if we could get craploads of money if we had em cut off on live tv.
Probably.
I’d lose the two pinkies for 20% since I don’t seem to use them much.
Possibly the ring fingers, but then typing would be HELL.
Forget using the discount on prosthetic pinkies, I’d use it on pinkie reattachment micro-surgery…
Great thread, even sven!
My initial thought was that I’d sacrifice the little finger of my left hand for 10% (I don’t use it when typing), especially if the reselling option is permitted. I live in the SF Bay Area, and barely make ends meet, so 10% on housing costs and health care alone would be worth it. I think many people with marginal finances would find a 10% discount attractive.
Then, having been raised on The Monkey’s Paw* and the Simpsons’ Halloween version thereof, not to mention Roald Dahl’s Man from Havana, I got to thinking of the Law of Unintended Consequences…
[Note: You’d have to set it up so that each 10% is a “compound discount”, not simply additive, or society would collapse as tenfold amputees would get everything for free. If you allow a 100% discount, a few people – say exisiting quadriplegics who would be only mildly impacted by the loss of fingers – would totally control all markets. If each 10% is compounded, the maximum discount would be about 65%, which might work if no resale is allowed, since high tax rates would limit the wealth that could be accumulated.]
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Knowing my luck, the 10% discount would be off full price (e.g. listed rack rate for hotels, business-class airline tickets), and “not combinable with other discounts”, so I’d end up paying more than some ten-fingered guy with an AAA membership card. :eek:
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If this offer was available to everyone, the “Invisible Hand” (sorry!) of the Free Market would make things balance out. You would not get a discount on prosthetic fingers, because everyone needing one would get an automatic 10% discount. Prosthetics manufacturers would simply raise their list prices by 10% (or more) to compensate. In fact, so many people would be needing fake fingers all of a sudden that the price would rise due to supply and demand. New prosthetics companies would form to meet the demand. Let me know when you’re going to make this happen, even sven, because I want to invest in prosthetics futures.
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In lower-income areas, a fairly high percentage of the population would opt for the chopper. A designated family member would make all purchases. However, this would cause inflation, since local merchants would be forced to raise prices to stay in business. It’s my understanding that, due to lack of transportation, poorer neighborhoods tend to have more purchases made locally than wealthier ones, so there would be an even higher price gradient between inner-city corner stores and large suburban supermarkets. The local inflation would balance out the 10% discount.
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An inverse “Arms Race” (I’m going to hell for sure for that one:eek: ) would take place. When the local market stabilizes to account for the “10%ers”, people living near the edge financially would opt to lose another finger, giving them an advantage until enough of their neighbors did likewise and inflation once again caught up with them.
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Once the current world population had undergone the amputation (or not), demand for prosthetics (and finger-guillotines, and morphine) would plummet. There would be massive overcapacity in prosthetics manufacturing, and the “Prosthetics Bubble” would burst. I, of course, would have seen this coming, sold my prosthetics shares at the top, and made my fortune while keeping all ten fingers. Bwahahaha!
So many people would be taking the “n-fingered discount” that you wouldn’t get a chance to tell your cool story. People would automatically assume you’d done it for the money. “Threshing accident? Suuuuure…”. Besides, you’d have a hard job beating this story, in which a character loses a finger in a rather pivotal scene.
Huh? Why would you want your pool to be full of bugs? (And bloated, and needing refilling several times a day).
*And what if the monkey had taken even sven’s offer? You’d have a Monkey’s Paw with fewer wishes (not that that’s necessarily a bad thing)!